"Bourbon?" The bartender asked Percy as he sat down.

"Of course."

"I'll have a martini." Zoë said.

The bartender nodded and brought them their drinks. Percy turned in his seat and looked at the rest of the bar. People were sitting, drinking, playing pool, or laughing with their friends. But one thing they all had in common is they all looked over as Zoë at some point. Every single one of them. Guess the black dress matched with a leather jacket was a fashion statement they could get behind. Or maybe it was the silver mask that covered half of her face. Or maybe they were just horny.

"This whole bar would kill to sit with you." He noted.

"How fun. Should we give them knives or let them use their fists?"

"That's the spirit." Percy smiled. He turned back around and took a sip of his drink.

"Memories, huh?" Zoë said.

"Yeah. I kind of miss it."

"I think you more than kind of miss it. I haven't heard you play the piano since Lux. You haven't sung, you barely dance, I think you don't like it over in the other creation."

Percy sighed and placed his drink on the bar counter. He watched as the bourbon spun till it was still. "I guess… I guess managing a whole universe isn't my gig. I mean, I pretty much gave up Hell. Whatever happened to that since we've been gone." He trailed off topic. "Maybe running a kingdom isn't my thing."

Zoë put down her martini. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Then why do you continue to do it?"

Percy let out a deep breath. "Maybe, maybe I wanted to impress dad. I mean, this was his business, and I helped. I guess I thought that was what my purpose was. But now…"

"You were the Angel of Music! That's what you did. That's who you were before you fell."

"I was, yes. I sang. Oh, how I sang." Percy looked to be lost in memories. "I performed, I played, I entertained."

"That's who you are. Not a creator. A musician, an entertainer."

Percy picked up the glass and took another drink. "Yeah. I am." Percy put down the glass. "When all of this is over, it's back to Los Angeles. I think they are ready for an encore." he turned to Zoë. "Will you join me?"

Zoë smiled. "Do you even have to ask?"

Percy smiled as well. "No, I suppose not." He finished the glass of bourbon. "Should I order us one more round?"

"Please, Just one? We know how that always turns out."

"Then I'll order six and we won't have to pretend."

"You bet."

Percy ordered another six of each and handed the bartender five hundred. "Keep the change. It's just money." He told him when the bartender looked on in surprise.

"You know, this is going to be more complicated than we thought." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Gaia has kidnapped the four horsemen. She plans to start the apocalypse. Or at least, she used to."

"What do you mean, used to?"

"Death was freed. Now things will stay dead. Which makes me feel better."

"What about his doors?"

Percy froze. "Fuck." He muttered. "I forgot about his doors. We're going to have to find those. And then 'rip them free' with the Seven. By dad this gets more complicated every second."

Zoë reached over and patted his shoulder. "We'll get through it. We always do."

"Yeah, but never before have I been so blind."

"It'll be alright."

"Where would I be without you?"

"Probably still ruling Hell."

"Yeah, probably."

LINE BREAK

Their drinking was interrupted by a teenager running in. He was out of breath, like he had just run a marathon. If he had been running all over New Rome, then it's possible that he had. "Praetor Reyna wants everyone to meet in the forum for a feast to honor our guests." He said, before running out, probably off to give the announcement elsewhere.

"Well damn." Percy said. He pulled out two flasks. He handed one to Zoë. "I'm not wasting this alcohol." He started to carefully fill the flask with the bourbon. Zoë did the same. The bartender looked at them weirdly, but in the end, they paid, and he no longer cared.

Percy put his flask inside his suit jacket. He offered to take Zoë's, but she put hers in her jacket pocket. He stood up and held out his hand. She took it and they walked out of the bar. They followed the crowd to the forum where the feast was taking place.

The forum looked more like a furniture showroom, with all the sets of furniture. A table with eleven seats was at the back of the forum. The table was a circle, allowing conversation to be made easier. The rest of the seven were already seated and making small talk. Reyna and some of her officers (including Octavian) were seated with them. Groups of Romans lounged around in groups of ten or twenty. Wind spirits raced around, bringing food and drinks to everyone.

Percy and Zoë sat at the table, the only two seats left. A burger appeared in front of Percy, while a piece of venison sat in front of Zoë. They started to eat. Percy pulled out his flask and took a sip.

Reyna stood up. She clinked a glass with a knife to quiet all of the conversations at once. She called for a toast, one of friendship, which the camp returned with enthusiasm. Except for one, Octavian. She sat back down.

"I believe introductions are in order." She said. "I'll start. I am Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. Praetor of Camp Jupiter."

Octavian went next. He made sure to give the Greeks a stink eye as he did so.

"Hi, I'm Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter."

"I'm Piper Mclean, Daughter of Aphrodite."

"Hey, I'm Leo Valdez, Supreme Commander of the Argo II. Son of Hephaestus."

"I'm Hazel Levesque. Daughter of Pluto."

"Frank Zhang, Son of Mars."

"Zoë Morningstar. I'm… something." She frowned as she realized she didn't know how to really describe herself. Would she say she was a demon, an archangel, the Devil's Bride? Hell had peace if she knew.

Percy chuckled. "Name Lucifer Morningstar, but you can call me Percy. I'm the Devil."

Leo went slack jawed. "How do you get Percy from Lucifer?" He asked.

"Actually, you get it from Perseus, which is my original name." He explained.

Jason nodded. "Lucifer is your latin name, isn't it? What the Romans gave you?"

"They didn't give me anything. I chose it. You didn't give it to me, like how you didn't give your Gods new names."

"But we did." Octavian said.

"Mmmm, did you?" Percy asked, his voice higher, as if mocking him.

"We took the screwup gods of the Greeks and perfected them." He said.

"Hey!" Piper and Leo said.

"Don't insult the gods of your peers. People don't take it well." Percy said. He took out a cigarette, and lit it. "Would you like it of I called Jupiter a stupid, poopyface?"

Thunder rumbled above as Zoë lightly punched Percy's arm. He smiled, before taking a drag on the cigarette. He offered it to Zoë who took a drag.

"You know those are bad for you, right?" Jason asked.

"For you. Not us." Percy took another drag as if to rub it in his face. "You really have to learn that not everyone is human. After all, you're a demigod."

Reyna cleared her throat. "While I'm sure we all find this very entertaining, I would like to know why Jason disappeared, and what happened afterwards."

And so, Jason, Piper, and Leo wove their tale. Jason explained how he woke up on a school bus with no memory, how he and his friends got to Camp Half-Blood, and the quest they went on to rescue Juno from imprisonment at the Wolf House in Northern California.

"Impossible!" Octavian interjected. "That's our most sacred place! If the giants imprisoned a goddess there—"

"They would have destroyed her. So now let Jason finish the story." Piper said.

"But-"

"Octavian, you ever hear the saying, 'Dicks get hit with bricks'?" Percy said.

"No? That's not a real saying."

"Want to make it one?"

Octavian shut up. Reyna kept looking between Piper and Jason, as if just now noticing they were a couple. Percy could barely hold in a snort. She must be super oblivious, cause Percy could sense their attraction from a mile away.

"So that's how we found out about Gaia. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the wolf house: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands— Greece itself. He plans on awaking Gaia and destroying the gods by… what did he call it? 'Pulling up their roots'."

Percy nodded. "Gaia's been busy over here as well."

Percy recounted the story of how he, Frank and Hazel traveled to Alaska and freed Death.

Leo whistled. "I should give Aunt Rosa more credit. She was half right. The a[ocalypse is coming."

"How was she half right?" Piper asked.

"She called me a diablo."

"Yeah, well, there can only be one." Percy said as he gestured to himself.

"So, you're going to go to Greece, the forbidden lands, and fight giants." Reyna summarized. "And I'm supposed to okay this? Even though going to the ancient lands is strictly forbidden."

"Yeah, basically. Either that or wait for a third of the ocean to turn to blood. Your pick."

"Besides. The Argo II is a state of the art warship. She'll get us there with no trouble!"

"Then it's decided." Percy said.

"What?!" Octavian jumped to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that?! Without a proper vote from the senate? Without debate?"

Percy took his cheeseburger and morphed it into a brick. He tossed it up and down. "Octavian."

Reyna sighed. "Octavian is right about one thing. We need the senate to approve sending our legionnaires on a quest. Especially one as dangerous as this."

"This whole thing smells of treachery." Octavian said. "That ship is not a ship of peace."

"Come on aboard man." Leo said. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the ship. I'll even give you a little captain's hat to wear."

Octavian's nostrils flared. "How dare you–"

"Octavian, go with him. We'll gather the senate in an hour."

Octavian grumbled as he was led off to the ship. How they would get up, Percy didn't know, since Zoë and Jason flew them down. Maybe Leo had a remote controlled ladder. Leo seemed like the type to build something like that.

And as Octavian and Leo walked off, Zoë couldn't help but feel the chill that she had felt earlier that morning.

A/N. Well then. Big reveal, Percy wasn't happy in the other universe. He misses performing at Lux. Don't get it twisted he loved being over there with his family. That wasn't what made him sad, it was just that it was ONLY them. You know, you see the same people over and over and it just gets kind of repetitive, like you want something new? That's what he's feeling.

Also, notice how he's calmer now that Zoë is with him? I told y'all, just her presence has a big effect on him. He's going to be slower to anger now. Let's hope I convey that properly.

And yes, the title is a reference to that one chapter title in PtDA. It's backwards this time.

One last thing. I have a question and I need you guys to answer honestly. Do you find the length of each chapter worth the about a week wait it take for it to come out? I'm talking the average length of about 1.5k words. (No matter what you answer, it's not going to change. I just don't have a lot of time to write.)

Thoughts?